In May, there were only 11. Days passed and the movement spread throughout the region. On September 21, a hundred Breton mayors responded to the call of the collective Ehpad publics en résistance during a meeting organized in Bégard (Côtes-d'Armor).
Torn between dismay and anger, they are ready to fight because the institutions they manage as presidents of the communal centre for social action (CCAS) are threatened.
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According to a survey by the France Hospital Federation made public at the beginning of the year, 85% of French public nursing homes, particularly represented in Brittany, plan to be in deficit this year, compared to 45% in 2019. Never seen before. In the Côtes-d'Armor alone, 7 out of 10 will have a deficit of about 300,000 euros at the end of the year. "I'm worried that I won't be able to pay the staff at the end of the year. As mayor, I am proud to wear the scarf but I hope it will not end up strangling me, "says the mayor of Méné (Côtes-d'Armor), Gérard Daboudet.
This summer, they had already gone on strike over bills.
While they have already been facing major recruitment and funding difficulties for several years, the explosion of energy bills was the straw that broke the camel's back. In order to alert on their situation, some mayors have already launched a bill strike this summer. Following this, a delegation was received at the end of August by the Minister of Solidarity and Families, Aurore Bergé. Exceptional, but insufficient, funds have been released.
"We always have the impression of asking for alms," says Philippe Le Goff, the mayor of Guingamp (Côtes-d'Armor). Not to mention the reform of old age, which is still awaited. Believing that, despite the scandals, the elderly hidden in the Ehpad do not seem to be a priority, about twenty municipalities have decided to force the State to action by attacking it in court for "culpable failure" on the financing of the Ehpad and "non-compliance with care obligations". "We want to assert our rights," says Jean-Louis Even, mayor of La Roche-Jaudy, who predicts the upcoming extension of the movement to the rest of the France.
